Emotional Competence Research Articles

Promoting Teachers' Social and Emotional Competence in Light of the Close Connection between Professional Role and Personal Characteristics: Preliminary Evidence of the Efficacy of the "ME4YOU" Training Program.

Within the field of research on the promotion of teachers' social and emotional competence, the present paper illustrates preliminary evidence of the efficacy of a new training program named "ME4YOU" aimed at supporting teachers' self-reflexive competences to deal with the emotional and relational dimensions of teaching, with constant and continuous attention towards underlining the close connection between the way teachers perform as professionals at work and the way they function as individuals in their personal life. A total of 109 teachers from kindergarten to primary school took part in the experimental group, while 67 teachers constituted the control group; the two groups were compared using a pre-test/post-test approach with regard to some self-reported variables related to professional and personal aspects. Teachers in the experimental group exhibited increased levels of professional self-efficacy and self-efficacy as emotional socializers toward students' emotions; moreover-although with a more limited impact-they reported benefits with regard to their personal life (i.e., reduced denial of own emotions and improved authenticity). The findings are discussed highlighting that health promotion among teachers is both of value in itself and an investment that can generate health in the whole school system.

Retention in Junior Giants, a sport-based youth development program: what factors are associated with intentions to return?

While evaluation research shows that physical activity-based youth development (PA-PYD) programs can have a positive impact on social and emotional growth, less is known about which participants return year after year and what factors are associated with their continued participation. The Junior Giants is a sport-based youth development program for 5-18-year-old boys and girls that is non-competitive and free to participate. The 8-week program uses baseball and softball as platforms for teaching life skills and fostering social emotional competencies. This mixed-methods study evaluated quantitative factors associated with intentions to return to the program the following year and qualitative reasons why parents/caregivers intended not to re-enroll their child. Parents/caregivers of Junior Giants participants (N = 8,495) completed online surveys about their child's demographics, social emotional climate and learning, character development, and intentions to return the following year. Descriptive data illustrated that parents/caregivers reported quite positive outcomes and experiences for their child. Chi-square and t-test analyses revealed significant differences (p < .001) between intended returners (n = 7,179, 84.5%) and those who reported no/undecided on returning (n = 1,316, 15.5%). Intended returners were significantly more likely to be identified as Latino and be in their second year of participation. Significant predictors of a binomial logistic regression [χ2 (df = 22) = 1,463.25, p < .001] included age, race/ethnicity, years played, character development, reading, league experiences, physical activity, and perceived support, with small to medium effect sizes. Using responses from a subset of 217 parents/caregivers who reported their child would not return to the program, a thematic analysis resulted in seven themes: Lack of Organization and Communication; Dissatisfied with Coaching, Didn't Learn Baseball/Softball, Not Competitive Enough, Skill Levels Not Matched, Aged Out, and Non-Program Related Reasons. Quantitative results contribute to the literature on predictors of retention in youth development programs, while qualitative findings echo common motives cited for dropout in youth sport. Both provide opportunities for reflection and potential changes to future programming.

A Bottom-Up Approach to Measuring Student Social–Emotional Competence

This brief report describes a pilot test toward developing a new measure of student social-emotional competence informed by the five-factor model proposed by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL 5). Current measures of the CASEL 5 are limited by top-down development approaches that may contribute to confirmation bias. Our development approach starts from the bottom-up and relies on exploratory methods to create and refine a relevant item pool. We administered the 47 best pilot items to a sample of 19 elementary teachers who rated all students in their classes (N = 415). We then evaluated the structural validity of responses to the pilot items via EFA in search of simple structure. Contrary to our expectations, results yielded a 14-item, two-factor measurement model that was more parsimonious than the CASEL 5, representing themes of community competence and personal competence. Scores from this new measure, which we tentatively name the Student Social–Emotional Competence Teacher Rating Scale, showed relatively normal distributions and theoretically consistent convergent and discriminant relations with other measures of student well-being and mental health. We discuss limitations of our findings related to generalizability and suggest next steps for progressing research in this area. Impact Statement Preliminary findings demonstrate that taking a bottom-up approach to developing a new measure informed by the CASEL 5 can unexpectedly lead to a measurement model misaligned with the CASEL 5. Our findings highlight the value of employing exploratory methods within the scale development process. Moreover, our findings suggest the potential benefit of reevaluating current measures of the CASEL 5 using bottom-up and exploratory methods.

Mechanisms of Action Promoting Social Emotional Learning in Sport and Recreation Program for Socially Vulnerable Youth

While sport and recreation programs have capacity to contribute to social emotional learning, there is a lack of clarity regarding how to achieve this. To address this void, we used constructivist grounded theory to identify the mechanisms of action promoting social emotional competencies captured by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) model (i.e. self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making) in sport and recreation program for socially vulnerable youth. Data collection included in-depth interviews with 12 youth participants and 13 practitioners. The findings show that the key mechanisms driving skill development include the adoption of new roles (leading to leadership opportunities, accountability, and exposure to diversity), interaction with caring program practitioners (providing feedback, mentorship, and trust-building), and the program’s context (offering a culture of safety, inclusivity, responsibility, and positivity). This study contributes to theory and practice on social emotional learning in sport and recreation programs.

Japanese cultural adaptation and validation of the social emotional health survey-secondary for junior high school students

The Social Emotional Health Survey–Secondary (SEHS-S) assesses adolescents’ psychological dispositions associated with positive psychosocial development. The present study extended SEHS–S research by validating the SEHS-S with a nonwestern sample of Japanese junior high school students (Grades 7–9; N = 1,181) and investigating sex and grade level difference in Covitality and four domains of positive psychological dispositions (Belief-in-Self, Belief-in-Others, Emotional Competence, and Engaged Living). The confirmatory factor analyses supported the internal validity of the SEHS-S with a second-order model. Higher Covitality scores predicted higher life satisfaction, school connectedness, and prosocial behavior and lower emotional symptoms, conduct problems, inattention/hyperactivity, and peer problems, evidence of concurrent validity. Analyses supported the factorial invariance for different sex and grade level. Females reported higher Belief-in-Others and Emotional Competence and lower Belief-in-Self and Engaged Living than males. Grade 9 students reported higher Covitality, Belief-in-Self, Emotional Competence, and Belief-in-Others than Grade 8 students. These results support expanding the use of the SEHS–S as a universal wellness screener in Japanese junior high schools to identify the social–emotional strengths of all students. Further study needs to establish how to use the SEHS–S most effectively with Japanese junior high school students in a culturally sensitive manner.

Relationship Between Perceived Parenting Style, Perceived Stress and Emotional Competence Among Young Adults

The purpose of the study is to investigate the relationship between Perceived Parenting Style, Perceived Stress, and Emotional Competence among young adults age ranging between 18-25 years. Parenting style refers to the behaviour of the parents towards their children, it can differ as every parent has a different way of interacting and guiding their children. The perception of children about the parenting style they experienced is referred to as Perceived Parenting Style. Parenting styles play a significant role in a child's emotional, physical, and psychological development. Stress is a bodily reaction to a threatening situation. Emotional competence refers to an individual’s ability to manage and express their emotions in a healthy way. This study attempts to determine the correlation between perceived parenting style, perceived stress and emotional competence. The scales utilised to collect the sample were The Perceived parenting style scale (PPSS) by Divya and Manikandan, The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) developed by Sheldon Cohen and the Emotional Competence Scale (EC-Scale) developed by R. Bharadwaj and H. Sharma. The methods utilised to analyse the data were descriptive statistics, Independent t-test and Pearson’s Correlation. SPSS software was utilised for the analysis. The result indicates a significant relationship between Perceived Parenting Style, Perceived Stress and Emotional Competence.

The role of teachers’ social and emotional competence in implementing social and emotional learning (SEL) curriculum in Malawi

Social and emotional learning (SEL) enhances children's academic and life achievements when implemented well. While previous studies explored factors influencing teachers’ implementation of SEL, limited attention has been given to the role of their social and emotional competence (SEC). To address this gap, this study analyzed surveys from 434 primary school teachers in Malawi using hierarchical linear modeling. The findings reveal a positive relationship between teachers’ SEC, specifically in emotion regulation and relationship management, and their integration of SEL in daily classroom instruction. Notably, teachers serve as behavioral role models through socialization, communication, and emotional conduct. Strengthening teachers’ SEC, in conjunction with SEL pedagogy training, could help foster SEL-rich school environments for learners in Malawi and similar contexts.

The relationship between bullying victimization and problematic behaviors: A focus on the intrapersonal emotional competence and interpersonal social competence

BackgroundEvidence consistently demonstrated that bullying victimization was associated with problematic behaviors among adolescents. However, scant attention has been given to simultaneous comparisons of the impacts of two distinct forms of victimization, traditional bullying victimization and cyberbullying victimization. In addition, the mechanisms underlying the relationship between bullying victimization and problem behavior remain inadequately explored. ObjectiveThis study aimed to examine the correlation between bullying victimization and problematic behaviors, as well as the mediating roles of intrapersonal emotional competence and interpersonal social competence. Participants and settingA sample of 26,450 adolescents with a mean age of 15.44 (SD = 0.56) across nine countries was derived from the Study on Social and Emotional Skills (SSES). MethodsData analysis was conducted using structural equation modeling, comprising three key components: the measurement model, the structural model, and the bootstrapping analysis for mediating effects. ResultsBoth traditional bullying and cyberbullying victimization exhibited positive correlations with problematic behaviors, with cyberbullying victimization demonstrating a stronger effect. The mediating effects of intrapersonal emotional competence and interpersonal social competence were observed in the correlation between bullying victimization and problematic behaviors. ConclusionsThis study not only contributed to our comprehension of the underlying mechanisms connecting bullying victimization and adolescent problematic behaviors, but also holds significance for policy development and practice.

Exploring the Influence of Mindfulness on Emotional Competence, Anxiety Management and Psychological Well Being among College Students

Humans have various roles to play during a span of their lifetime, and student life is a time full of opportunities and future goal planning where hard work and experiences are measured by the level of achievement. College comes as a big change in any students life, both males and females lives. The present study was done to study the effect of mindfulness on emotional competence, anxiety management and psychological well being of college students. For this purpose 120 college students ( 60 female and 60 male) between the ages of 18 to 25 were taken from urban areas of Delhi NCR, India. Emotional competence scale by Dr Harish Sharma, Beck anxiety inventory , positive and negative affect schedule and mindfulness attention awareness scale were taken as tools to collect data and these questionnaires were given to participants, and they were asked to fill them honesty. The results depicted that for females mindfulness was negatively correlated with anxiety and emotional competence, and positively correlated with psychological positive negative affect. For males mindfulness was positively correlated with anxiety and emotional competence, and negatively correlated with psychological positive negative affect. This study further recommends other researchers to keep different age and geographical scales when further taking up this topic for research in future.

Training and coaching early childhood teachers to foster social, emotional, and behavioral competence of children in Turkey.

A growing evidence base demonstrates the effectiveness of teacher training and coaching interventions to improve teacher- and child-level outcomes in high-income countries. However, more information is needed to show the benefits of these interventions in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). To provide an evidence base for LMICs, we conducted a cluster-randomized controlled trial examining the efficacy of a teacher training and coaching intervention for promoting children's social, emotional, and behavioral competence, Reaching Educators and Children (REACH) Classroom Check-Up (CCU), on teachers' behaviors, teacher-child relationship quality, and children's social competence and problem behaviors. Participants included 20 early childhood teachers and 175 children (4-6 year olds) in Turkey. Findings indicate that REACH CCU increased teachers' positive behaviors and teacher behaviors that support social, emotional, and behavioral competence of children, while reducing teachers' negative behaviors. Teachers in REACH CCU demonstrated an increased level of closeness and reduced levels of conflict with children in their classrooms. Furthermore, REACH CCU improved teacher-reported social competence and reduced problem behaviors of children. Results provide evidence that REACH CCU is a promising approach for improving teachers' behaviors, teacher-child relationship quality, and children's social, emotional, and behavioral competence, especially in LMICs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Cybergossip in adolescence: Its relationship with social competency, empathy, emotions in online communication and socio-emotional e-competencies by gender and age

Cybergossip involves making evaluative comments about third parties through digital devices, a behaviour accentuated by the use of social networks and associated with the intensification of cyberbullying, especially among adolescents. Certain studies suggest that there may be a relationship between cybergossip and socio-emotional variables. However, few studies have analysed this, and even fewer have considered a further series of variables that are evaluated in the online environment, taking into account gender and age differences. Thus, the aim of this study is to analyse the predictive capacity of social competency, empathy, emotional online content (e-motions), and socio-emotional e-competencies in relation to cybergossip. In order to achieve this, we conducted a large-scale survey among Spanish adolescents (n = 992) aged 12–16 (54.4% girls, M = 13.80, and SD = 1.27). Results showed that cybergossip increases with age, with a similar frequency in boys and girls. Regression analysis showed that the variables we evaluated in the online environment can improve our knowledge about cybergossip in relation to social competency and empathy. Moreover, e-motions, which tend to come into play in the transmission of online messages, increase the frequency of cybergossip. Socio-emotional e-competencies, however, can reduce its occurrence, thereby helping adolescents adapt to online interaction environments. Certain socio-emotional e-competencies stand out: e-regulation of emotions in girls, e-self-control of impulsivity in boys, and emotional e-independence in both genders and in older adolescents. Finally, we highlight the need for adolescents to develop specific online emotional competencies.

Can We Measure the Level of Socio-Emotional Competencies of Adolescents?

The present study aimed to evaluate the evidence of validity and reliability of the Social Emotional Competence Questionnaire (SECQ) in Spanish students and to verify if gender is a determining factor in their development. An intentional sampling was carried out on 429 students between 12 and 16 years old. Three factorial structures were tested: the original model, the original re-specified model, and the six-factor model that was achieved. The results maintain that the original re-specified model presented values with the best absolute fit, a slightly more favorable comparative fit, and a parsimonious fit with lower values than the other models. The reliability analysis showed considerable internal consistency. Boys were shown to have better self-management, and girls showed greater management in their social relationships. It is concluded that the questionnaire has adequate psychometric properties and is expressly useful in the population of interest with a relevant weight in the evaluation of socio-emotional competence.

The Importance of Sports Participation on Lithuanian Adolescents’ Social and Emotional Health

Abstract Global mental health rates are staggering. Youth mental health in sport is a topic with increasing research attention. To date, most youth sport research examines mental health from isolated events as opposed to a cumulative-assets framework. Our main research question examined sport participation group differences regarding four mental health domains; emotional competence, belief-in-others, belief-in-self, and engaged living, and the composite covitality meta-indicator. To answer our research questions, 1965 Lithuanian youths (60.10% female) ranging in age from 11 to 17 (M = 13.62, SD = 1.96) from urban and rural school districts completed our survey. Our results indicated many significant differences (p &lt; 0.001) emerged for participant sex, age grouping, and sport participation (competitive, leisure, or none). Only for the sport participation were the MANOVA and ANOVA effect size values at least small in magnitude. In the follow-up analyses (all p’s &lt; 0.001), the competitive group differed from the no sport group (effect sizes medium-to-large) and to the leisure participant group (effect sizes small) in all four mental health domains and the meta-indicator covitality. Small-to-medium effect size values resulted between the leisure and no sport groups. Sport participation, even for leisure, is related to improved self-reported social and emotional health in our large sample. The practical implication is clear that all governments and such bodies should provide accessible and affordable sport participation opportunities, whether competitive or recreational. Longitudinal research, as a future direction in sport contexts, will help to best understand and move forward with youth mental health.

The Influence of Paternal Absence During Childhood on Women's Self-esteem and Self-efficacy: A Perspective Paper

This paper explores the potential impact of paternal absence on women during their childhood by examining literature and contemporary theories. Paternal absence refers to children lacking paternal love and care due to factors such as illegitimate birth, divorce, or death. In today's society, diverse marriage concepts have led to an increase in single-parent families, resulting in a growing prevalence of paternal absence. This paper comprehensively examines the influence of paternal absence on female self-esteem using theoretical frameworks from psychoanalysis, social learning, social comparison, cognitive development, and attachment. Additionally, it highlights the significance of fathers' presence during childhood in establishing women's sense of competence through Bandura's concept of self-efficacy. The results of the study revealed that the absence of a father figure may exert detrimental effects on women's self-perception, interpersonal bonding, and development of emotional and creative competence.

Supplemental Material for Training and Coaching Early Childhood Teachers to Foster Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Competence of Children in Turkey

Supplemental Material for Training and Coaching Early Childhood Teachers to Foster Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Competence of Children in Turkey

Examining Digital Parental Mediation, Social and Emotional Competence, and Well-Being on Cyberbullying Roles Across Different Cohorts of Chinese Children

Examining Digital Parental Mediation, Social and Emotional Competence, and Well-Being on Cyberbullying Roles Across Different Cohorts of Chinese Children

How language affects social cognition and emotional competence in typical and atypical development: A systematic review.

The ability to understand the mental state of others (social cognition), as well as language, is crucial for children to have good social adaptation. Social cognition (SC) has been shown to be a hierarchical model of three factors (Cognitive, intermediate and affective SC) interrelated with linguistic processes. Children on the autism spectrum and children with developmental language disorder (DLD) or social communication disorder (SCD) manifest language and SC difficulties, albeit in different ways. This systematic review aims to find how language and SC interact with each other and identify linguistic and socio-affective profiles in the target population. About 1593 articles were systematically reviewed according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guide in November 2022, obtaining, through inclusion/exclusion criteria, a total of 38 articles for qualitative assessment. The majority of them were on autism (26) or DLD (14) and to a lesser extent SCD (3). Although SC is related to all components of language, SC is strongly related to narrative and morphosyntax and partially related to lexicon. Pragmatics shows a complex relation with SC due to greater sensitivity to other factors such as age or task, and prosody appears to be more related to emotional processes. Besides, autistic, SCD and DLD children showed differences in their language and socio-affective performance. Mainstream DLD children have lower performance in general language, where autistic and SCD children have more linguistic variation and are lower in pragmatic and SC tasks, SCD children being more associated with language production difficulties and autistic children with both receptive and productive language. Each language component has a different interaction with SC. Likewise, different linguistic profiles are partially found for each disorder. These results are important for future lines of research focusing on specific components of interaction and socio-emotional processes, as well as for clinical and educational treatment. What is already known on the subject The hierarchical model of Schurz etal. (2021), divide social cognition into three brain constructs: cognitive social cognition (CSC), affective social cognition (ASC) and intermediate social cognition (ISC). They observe a large relationship between language and ISC, a fact that has been corroborated with some other studies. Studies have also found lower linguistic and socio-affective abilities in children with autism and language and communication disorders compared with children with neurotypical development, and large behavioural and neurocognitive overlaps between these disorders (Durrleman etal., 2019; Löytömäki etal., 2019). What this paper adds to existing knowledge This is the first review that relates all linguistic components (narrative, lexicon, morphosyntax, pragmatic and prosody) with the three constructs of social cognition (Cognitive, intermediate and affective). Moreover, it is the first review that studies the socio-linguistic factors comparing autism, developmental language disorder and social communication disorder with each other and with neurotypical development in children aged from 4 to 9 years. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Understanding how language and social cognition interact with each other in autism spectrum disorder, developmental language disorder and social communication disorder allows us to trace socio-linguistic profiles for each of the studied disorders, understand better children with these difficulties, and, with this, find specific potential intervention points to improve and prevent these difficulties.

Impact of Emotional Intelligence on the Well-being of Teachers and Students

Studies from across the world have reported a high prevalence of stress across all spheres of life and the field of higher education is no exception. The United Nations has given impetus to the well-being of people by incorporating the same in its sustainable development goals. The discussion on well-being can never be complete without a mention of emotional intelligence, a key skill in managing emotions, which in turn leads to well-being. The new normal is presently witnessing the key stakeholders of higher education, namely teachers and students adjusting themselves to the transition from online to hybrid classes. Research studies have reported a high prevalence of stress among teachers and students. With this background, this study examines the association between emotional intelligence and well-being among teachers and students. The sample for the study included 100 teachers and 100 students from Government and private colleges in South India. Emotional Intelligence was measured using "DeepaKrishnaveni Emotional Intelligence Test", developed for adults in the Indian context. Well-being was assessed using the "General Well-being Scale", which measures the 6 facets of well-being. The study found a significant association between emotional intelligence and well-being. It has implications for developing the emotional intelligence competencies of both teachers and students, thereby promoting their well-being.

Measuring social and emotional learning skills of preschool children in Croatia : initial validation of the SSIS SEL Brief Scales

Although there is increased interest in social and emotional competence and mental health in Croatia, there are currently limited measurement options available for early childhood settings. Thus, the SSIS SEL Brief Scales (SSIS SELb), an efficient measure of social and emotional learning competencies developed in the United States, was translated to Croatian and used by 49 early childhood educators to rate a sample of 685 children (average age 4.3 years) from several counties in Croatia. Regarding measurement invariance, the final model cohered substantially with a CASEL-inspired framework. Overall reliability was also high especially for the SEL Composite (α = .94), with notably lower reliability for subscales. Regarding cross-group concurrent validity, concurrent coefficients were largely similar across age and gender, but there were regional differences in validity. Likewise, validity correlations were in line with expectations, with moderate relationships observed between the SSIS SEL Composite and Child and Youth Resilience Measure scores. In sum, the high level of reliability provided a foundation for applied and research usage of the Croatian SSIS SELb, although further validation research will continue to be necessary before widescale implementation. Limitations to the study are discussed and also point to needed additional research before utilizing the Croatian translated SSIS SELb for applied decisions with young children.

Evaluating emotional competencies in health professionals in a city in Colombia

IntroductionEmotional competencies, according to Bisquerra Alzina &amp; Escoda (2007), refer to “knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to understand, express and appropriately regulate emotional phenomena” (p. 22) in the management of emotions with oneself and with the other.ObjectivesMeasure the emotional competencies Empathy, Emotional Expression and Emotional Regulation in health professionals in healthcare centers.MethodsQuantitative descriptive. The Inventory of Emotional Competencies for Adults (Mikulic, Crespi, Radusky, 2015) was applied to 30 participants (doctor, psychologist, nurse, dentist).ResultsThe grouped measurements show skills at a medium and high level. Table 1.Measurement of empathy capacity, emotional regulation capacity and emotional expression capacityFrequencyPorcentEmpathyMedium2790,0High310,0Emotional RegulationMedium1550,0High1550,0Emotional ExpressionMedium2686,7High413,3Total30100,0The emotional reaction of congruence with the emotional state of the other, empathy, shows a medium level (Table 1), a result consistent with the study by Ruiz González (2019), in the Colombian population, where a medium level of empathy is observed in doctors. In the strategy for management, support, increase and suppression of the current affective state to self-soothe and find a state of relaxation, it is at an average value between medium and high (table 1.)In the ability to start and maintain conversations, express one’s own thoughts and feelings clearly, both in verbal and non-verbal communication, and demonstrate to others that they have been well understood, the level is mostly medium (table 1.)ConclusionsThe levels of emotional competencies evaluated are mostly in the middle in the assessment by dimensions, empathy registered a lower level in contrast to other dimensions.Taking into consideration professional practice, response to organic and mental human vulnerability, it is a field for promoting the well-being of the health professional.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared